Rae White (22) goes for two.
The Fredonia women's basketball team finished its opening-round playoff game on a 9-0 run en route to a 59-51 upset victory over Oneonta on Tuesday. The Devils entered the tournament as the No. 6 seed while the Red Dragons were the No. 3 seed.
Fredonia went 7-of-10 from the line in the final minute, while holding Oneonta scoreless over the final 2:27 to overtake the hosts. Free throws played a big part in the outcome, as the Devils connected on 18-of-24 for the contest, while Oneonta went just 4-of-8.
Oneonta proved to be one of the top teams in the region, now sporting a 20-6 record after the loss, and swept the season series from Fredonia, but the Devils came up big when it counted the most.
"Just so proud of our defensive fortitude on the road," said first-year head coach Sarah Cartmill. "We made a very good team work for everything they got. We showed a lot of grit as a team to weather a late run and knocked down some big free throws."
Oneonta entered the final period down 39-36. They would gained the lead 44-42 when they ran off seven unanswered points. The run was capped with a trey from senior Teresa Anken. Anken led all scorers with 15 points.
Back-to-back layups by Anna Chiacchia (Hamburg/Hamburg) and Katie Pitcher (Fulton/Hannibal) put the Blue Devils back in front at the 4:23 mark. Anken knotted the score at 46 apiece and the two teams then took turns with the lead. The final lead change came when Fredonia's Sarah Sweazy (Rochester, N.Y./Rush Henrietta) hit a driving layup with 1:35 to go to put the Blue Devils up 52-51.
Fredonia's final seven points came from the line, with five of them coming from Rae White (North Collins/Lake Shore). White would lead the Devils with 13 points.
A trio of Devils finished with 10 points apiece -- Pitcher, Sweazy, and Chiacchia. Top rebounders were Jenna Einink (Westfield/Chautauqua Lake) and Sweazy with eight each.
The two teams battled relatively even statistically through the opening two quarters with Fredonia holding a slight 26-23 lead at the break. Back-to-back threes by Chiacchia and Sweazy in the closing minute of the half gave the Blue Devils its advantage.
The Red Dragons will now have to hope for an at-large bid to gain entrance into the NCAA Tournament when selections are made on Monday.
Fredonia improves to 12-14. Their season continues Friday at New Paltz when the Devils take on the No. 2 seeded Geneseo Knights.
